Cowboys remove Brent from active roster while pledging continued support

Josh Brent won’t play another down for the Dallas Cowboys this season, but that doesn’t mean the team has cut ties with the troubled nose tackle.

Far from it, in fact.

After consulting with the NFL, the Cowboys on Wednesday removed Brent from their 53-man active roster and placed him on the reserved/non-football illness list.

The move allows him to continue to have access to the team’s facilities, his teammates, his coaches and support personnel.
Brent, 24, has been charged with intoxication manslaughter after the death early Saturday morning of practice squad linebacker
Jerry Brown, a 25-year-old former member of the San Antonio Talons. Police say Brent was at the wheel of his speeding 2007 Mercedes when he lost control on the service road of an Irving highway with Brown as a passenger.

“Josh is part of our family,” coach Jason Garrett said at a news conference in Irving.

“We have unconditional love for him and we’re going to make sure we support him every way we can. …having him be here and knowing people are around him to help him and that he can call us, he can just be around us, he can cry, he can laugh, he can do whatever he needs to and we’ll be there to help him.”

Several players echoed Garrett’s comments.

“It’s real tough man,” defensive end Jason Hatcher said. “We lost a brother (Brown), but we didn’t lose him (Brent). He is going to be around. He’s got our support. He is our brother. He is family.

“Like I told him, he is going to play football again. We are going to do what we can to fight for him and keep him on the right track…I love him with all my heart.”

The Cowboys filled Brent’s spot with defensive tackle Brian Schaefering. A third-year pro from Lindenwood (Mo.), the 6-foot-4, 292-pound St. Louis native has experience with Rob Ryan’s defensive scheme after logging nine starts for Cleveland in 2010, Ryan’s last season with the Browns.

With Brent’s football fate decided at least for this season, and Tuesday’s memorial service for Brown behind them, the Cowboys returned to work Wednesday with at least the beginnings of a sense of closure.

The healing process received a major boost from the actions of Brown’s mother, Stacey Jackson. After arriving in Dallas from St. Louis on Tuesday morning, Jackson rode to the memorial service with Brent and also insisted he sit on the same row with her during the service at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship.

Brent and Brown were best friends after played together and rooming together at Illinois from 2007-2009. They also roomed together after the Cowboys signed Brown on Oct. 24.

“You can tell she has so much love and her family has so much love for Josh, and there’s been a real connection there for a long time,” Garrett said. “…She loves and cares about him very much, and she too wants to supports him in every way that she can…It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen.”

The Cowboys declined to give details of the hour-long service, but Garrett called it “incredible on so many different levels.”

“Jerry’s mom…it was as remarkable a thing as I’ve seen in my life,” Garrett said. “I got a chance to visit with her prior to the memorial, and the strength she demonstrates, the faith that she has, her ability to understand and have peace in this situation so quickly is remarkable. She has been a rock for everybody and she was again yesterday.”

Garrett also praised the words of comfort delivered at the service by Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship senior pastor Tony Evans and Cowboys chaplain Jonathan Evans.

“One of the things we’ve tried to do is provide perspective on this situation and it’s hard to do,” Garrett said. “It’s hard to understand why something like this happens, and they did a great job trying to do that for us yesterday.

“…There was a lot of love in that room.”

Brent’s removal from the active roster capped a turbulent four-day period for the Cowboys during which they coped with the sudden death of a teammate and the knowledge that another one had entered a world of emotional pain – all while preparing for and then beating Cincinnati 20-19 on a field goal as time experienced.

Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones lauded Garrett for the leadership he showed during the ordeal.

“He’s been in our organization for a long time as a player, as a coach and as an assistant and none of it is surprising,” Jones told reporters in Irving. “That’s why he’s the head coach of the Cowboys. We obviously hold him in high regard. As a leader of our team he certainly did well in the face of adversity.”

Garrett cautioned that the tough times aren’t over as the team prepares to host Pittsburgh on Sunday in a clash of 7-6 playoff hopefuls.

“The whole situation has been very challenging for all of us right from the start and for obvious reasons – a 25-year-year old man we were all very close to is no longer with us,” Garrett said. “I don’t know if it gets more challenging than that.

“But it is challenging going forward as well. The big thing we have to do is balance remembering Jerry and honoring him, supporting Josh and also getting back to living our lives and getting back to work.”